Wake Up Call: Ex-Clinton Advisers Launch Law Firm for Trump Era

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• Evergreen Strategy Group—the strategic communications firm founded by former Clinton advisers Nick Merrill and Dan Schwerin—launched Evergreen Legal, a boutique law firm that will work in tandem with its comms shop to offer legal services, communications support, and advice on current political and regulatory dynamics. Corey Ciorciari will serve as managing partner, Karianne Jones, Schwerin, and Merrill are partners and Justice Department alum Grace Leeper will serve as senior counsel. (Axios)
• Former prosecutor Paul McDonald has made it his mission to argue that college athletes should be recognized as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, entitling them to minimum wage. His case, Johnson v. NCAA, has been winding through the courts since 2019 and stands as the only remaining legal challenge focused on athlete employment status that sidesteps unionization and the NLRB. (The Washington Post)
• Latham & Watkins is expanding its presence in New York City, having inked a 12-year, 120,000-square-foot lease at 1285 Avenue of the Americas. The firm will occupy two floors within the building, in addition to the more than 435,000 square feet that it also occupies one block away at Rockefeller Group’s 1271 Avenue of the Americas. (Commercial Observer)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Doug Lumish, Jeff Homrig, and Gabe Gross joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges as partners in its intellectual property practice.
• David D’Souza joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in its private equity group in London. He joins from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer.
• Mei Lian joined Linklaters as a partner in its corporate and structured lending practice in London. She joins from Paul Hastings.
• Matthew Steinhilber was appointed general counsel at Datasite.